CHARLESTON, Mo - After a season full of accolades the Charleston Bluejays stood at the doorstep of their biggest feat yet Friday night in the Class 2, District 1 Tournament championship game.
Standing in their way was perennial district powerhouse and defending champion Caruthersville. Though they were in it until the final play it wasn't to be for the top-seeded Bluejays, falling 20-12 to the second-seeded Tigers who claimed their eighth title in the last 11 years.
"The biggest thing you saw from our team was the way they battled back," Charleston head coach Brett Blackman said. "Traditionally in this game they have rolled on us, but our kids battled to the end and tried to do things to score.
"We had goals this year and accomplished a lot of them, but came up short on this one."
Missed opportunities haunted Charleston throughout the game.
One of their biggest came midway through the fourth quarter with the Bluejays trailing 14-6.
A Caruthersville fumble gave Charleston possession at the Tigers' 45 yard-line and with 5:38 Q'Nairies Anderson scored his second touchdown of the game from three-yard out.
With a chance to tie the game, however, on the two-point conversion Anderson was stopped just short of the goal line.
"You hope your offensive line knows the sense of urgency there," Blackman said. "We didn't and left a guy uncovered. We didn't work up to the second level."
It was the Bluejays second recovered fumble in the half, but they were unable to covert on the first.
Needing a stop, the Bluejays set up a touchdown on the Tiger's ensuing possession only to see Caruthersville chew up the clock before earning a first down at Charleston's one-yard line with 1:07 to play.
Devil Russell punched the ball in on the next play, but a failed run on the two-point conversion left the Bluejays in the game, 20-12.
"Score when you can," Caruthersville head coach Jimmy Johnson said of not bleeding more time off the clock. "We knew we were down on the one, getting down there that close we wanted to score."
With two times out and no room for error the Bluejays took over on their own 33 yard-line after a 15-yard kickoff return from Anderson.
Charleston worked their way to their own 45 yard-line when an interception by Antayvieyaun Taylor on a short pass looked to end the game and sent the Tigers into celebration mode.
A roughing the passer call on the play gave the Bluejays new life and they marched to Caruthersville's 35 yard-line before burning their final timeout with 8.1 seconds left.
A final play was set up where quarterback Teejay Williams handed off to Anderson, who then handed off to Tyrese Tate.
Tate launched the ball just shy of the endzone on the right sideline, but a Bluejay receiver was unable to haul in the pass as time expired. An ineligible man downfield call was declined by the Tigers to end the game and seal the championship.
"I knew somebody was going to come out of the backfield," Jackson said of the final play. "I didn't expect the reverse pass, but we routed our guys over and told them to expect everything and put a spy on Anderson.
"They didn't actually go to Anderson, but we had guys deep too."
Caruthersville won nearly every statistical category Friday, out-gaining the Bluejays 315-188 in total yards and earning 21 first downs to Charleston's 13.
Despite this the Bluejays never trailed by more than a score and had a chance to take the lead late in the third quarter on a two-point conversion.
Caruthersville rushed 46 times for 267 yards while the Bluejays gained 166 yards on 36 attempts.
"We had our defense on the field way too much," Blackman said. "You can't win a district championship like that. We're probably in a lucky position there weren't more points on the board for as much as they controlled time-of-possession."
Through the air the Tigers were 3 of 13 for 48 yards and a pick. Charleston, using two quarterback, completed 3 of 11 passes for 22 yards while getting picked four times.
Nicholas Moore led the Tigers on the ground, rushing 20 times for 184 yards while Russell only gained 18 yards on 14 carried, but scored twice.
In his final game as a Bluejay Anderson added to his already record-breaking season with 136 yards and two touchdowns on 25 attempts.
Charleston ends its season with a 10-2 record having set many new milestones for the program. Anderson finished with 2,838 yards and 38 touchdowns to become the most accomplished back in school history.
Caruthersville (10-2) will host Lutheran North Saturday at 1 p.m. in a Class 2 quarterfinal matchup.